Selected Headlines

Principlist lawmaker Ali Motahari has criticized the appointment of Mohammad-Reza Rahimi as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first vice president, saying he is another Kordan (the impeached former oil minister), waiting to happen.

"Of course such a move [appointing Rahimi] was not unexpected of him [Ahmadinejad], because generally when he is advised against appointing someone to position he insists on [going ahead with] that appointment."

Motahari went on to point that Rahimi was accused of attempting to bribe lawmakers during Kordan's impeachment trial and added, "It would have been better for the president to not choose him as his first deputy."

"I believe that some people are intentionally creating tension to use the conflicts between different elements and institutions of the country for their own goals. Presently they intend to use the differences between a number of lawmakers with Rahimi to further their own objectives."

"Such tensions were also in the 10th presidential elections and we are now witnessing the repercussions of that on the nation."

"I believe making use of tensions [to further objectives] is a bad method and I hope Mr. Ahmadinejad rectifies his previous actions."

Haj Mansour Arzi, a well known Tehran Madah (one who recites eulogy-like religious poetry), stressed the importance of finding the instigators of the post-vote unrest, implicating Mohammad Mousavi-Khoeiniha as the mastermind of the incidents.

According to IRNA, on the last night of the Ihya ceremonies held at Arg Mosque in Tehran, Arzi pointed to the findings of the three-member Judiciary committee regarding Mehdi Karroubi's rape claims and said, "This man [Karroubi], who played with the reputation of the establishment with his baseless claims, must be tried and punished with lashing for his lies, so that no one in the future will dare again to damage the reputation of the establishment."

Arzi had earlier claimed that, "100 boys and girls were taken to a swimming pool filled with alcohol, where they were given drugs, and raped one another before being turned loose on the protesters whom they assaulted and killed."

He went on to name Mousavi-Khoeiniha as the ringleader of the post-election violence saying, "We have solid proof of this."

Rafsanjani to lead Qods day prayers?

Salaam News | Sept. 14, 2009

A member of the policymaking council of the Friday Prayers sermons said no one was better suited to lead the Qods day prayers than Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani.

"No one can restore calm to society like Ayatollah Hashemi [Rafsanjani]; he is the best choice to lead the prayers on Qods day and this will happen like previous years."

"Ayatollah Hashemi-Rafsanjani will definitely participate in this Friday's prayers," he added.

The Friday prayers leader, who requested to remain anonymous, told Salaam that, "As far as I know, there has been no talk of anyone but Ayatollah Hashemi leading the prayers."

A pro-government website has reported that opposition cleric Mehdi Karroubi recanted his claims of detainee rape in a letter to Judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani.

According to Fars News Agency, after conceding to the fallacy of his claims of jail rapes, Karroubi requested Larijani not to ask for further proof.

The report says Karroubi said in his Friday letter that in the course of his investigations he had encountered evidence proving the inaccuracy of the accounts about the rape and death of one of the victims.

"One of the cases that proved false after further investigation was that of Saeedeh Pouraghayi," Karroubi's letter read.

Reports indicate that some clerics of Qom have been meeting with Ayatollah Safi-Golpayegani almost nightly since the start of Ramadan.

According to Ayatollah Safi's website, issues pertaining to the seminary and the country's current affairs have been discussed during these meetings and the Shia Source of Emulation has offered his guests advice on the topics of debate.

Some of the clerics who have visited Ayatollah Safi include Hosseini-Boushehri, Alavi-Boroujerdi, Seyyed Ali Milani and Gharavi.

It should be noted the representative of Grand Ayatollah Sistani, Hojjatoleslam Shahrestani and the son of Ayatollah Saed Hakim, Seyyed Riyaz, along with the sons of other influential Ayatollahs have met with Ayatollah Safi.

The legal department of the presidential office and the Raja News website have filed suit against Ayatollah Yousefali Sanei.

Fars news agency cited an informed source from the presidential office as saying, "Following Mr. Sanei's speech in which he insulted the President, the legal department of the presidential office has filed a lawsuit against him."

The source added, "The case would be referred to the Clerical court."

Ayatollah Sanei is an outspoken Shia Source of Emulation. Should the case go to trial this would be the first time that the government of the Islamic Republic has taken a Source to court.

Rajanews is a website run by Fatemeh Rajabi. In 2005, Rajabi described Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as 'the Miracle of the 21st Century' in a book with the same title. The pro-Ahmadinejad website previously accused Sanei of being mentally deranged.

The Parlement News report, however, says Sanei did not disrespect Ahmadinejad and that the audio file and transcription of the Ayatollah's controversial speech have been distributed to prove the claim wrong.

Even after the arrest of reformist figures close to Mehdi Karroubi, the opposition cleric said nothing can force him to abandon his cause.

"I am surprised, not because I want to question why they are doing this to Mehdi Karroubi, but because a certain party believes that by doing so, Mehdi Karroubi, son of Ahmad, will abandon his cause after seeing the arrests and closures and will be silenced," he said in an interview with the Italian Lastampa daily.

Karroubi was referring to the wave of arrests of reformist figures and the closure of the opposition office for investigating post-vote deaths and detentions as well as the National Confidence Party's headquarters.

This is while many of the country's Friday Prayers Leaders have called for Karroubi's arrest and punishment and newspapers close to the government have released reports suggesting the imminence of the reformist cleric's arrest.